Newsletter

Omnibus bill could be ticket to digging

Language included in the omnibus appropriations bill passed Wednesday by the U.S. House could set the stage for movement on dredging the Savannah harbor as early as the second quarter of this year, according to GPA executive director Curtis Foltz.

While the Water Resources Development Bill is expected to pass sometime early this year, the omnibus bill is flying through Congress. It was approved Thursday by the Senate and is on its way to be signed by the president.

With that in mind, Congressman Jack Kingston inserted language in the bill that directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project an ongoing construction project for purposes of developing future budget requests.

“We believe that language — if it stays in the final version of the bill — will allow the Corps to enter into a Project Partnership Agreement with the state of Georgia to define how the project’s study and construction costs would be shared between the federal and state governments,” Foltz said, adding that the state and Corps have a draft agreement ready to finalize.

The agreement would allow the state to offer more non-federal funds up front instead of the yearly match identified in the standard cost-share agreement.

With some $230 million already allocated by the state and Gov. Nathan Deal asking for another $35 million this year, contracts for dredging could be awarded as early as the second quarter, Foltz said.

But, he cautioned, this positive development doesn’t mean the parties have time to celebrate.

“We still have to secure the additional federal funds, something our delegation continues to work hard on,” he said.

EPA award for GPA

Christopher Grundler, director, office of transportation and air quality for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Stan Meiburg, acting regional administrator for the EPA’s Southeast Region, will visit the Port of Savannah today to present an award to the GPA for environmental stewardship.

The EPA, on behalf of the Southeast Diesel Collaborative, will recognize Georgia Ports Authority as the SEDC Community Leadership Award recipient winner. The award recognizes exemplary projects in fuel-related emissions reductions throughout the Southeast region.

Examples of GPA environmental leadership include:

• The installation of 24 electric rubber-tire gantry cranes, with plans to have all 169 GPA cranes electrified by 2022, which will make GPA the first North American port to introduce this cleaner, more efficient technology in its RTG cranes;

• Reducing fuel use by 290,860 gallons and 3,347 tons of harmful air emission annually by these efforts.

Logistics snapshot

Page Siplon, director of the Georgia Centers of Innovations, has put out his “Logistics Market Snapshot” for January, chock full of a number of encouraging stats. For example:

• Our domestic transportation infrastructure is expected to grow to $135.8 billion this year, a 5-percent increase over 2013.

• More than 1.6 million containers of new ocean freight capacity are scheduled for delivery this year, possibly making 2014 a record-breaking year for capacity.

• Intermodal rail traffic in December 2013 was 8 percent higher than in December 2012. Intermodal loadings have experienced year-over-year gains for 48 straight months. For all of 2013, U.S. rail intermodal volume totaled a record-breaking 12.8 million containers and trailers, up 4.6 percent over 2012.

• The U.S. trade deficit decreased by 12.9 percent in November to $34.3 billion, the lowest trade deficit since October 2009.

To subscribe to the monthly snapshot, go to www.georgialogistics.com.

Senior business writer Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for Savannah Morning News and Savannahnow. Reach her at 912-652-0324 or mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.

Shipping schedule

Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GCT and are subject to change.